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An Alexander aide pointed out his sterling ratings with the National Rifle Association and anti-abortion groups, but conservative foes are more likely to highlight his Heritage Action scorecard for 2013, which places him below Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper, a noted Democratic moderate. His lifetime score with the fiscally conservative Club for Growth has plummeted from 79 percent to 68 percent since 2006, and his score for 2012 was 53 percent compared to 78 percent in 2011, his last year as the No. 3 in GOP leadership.

Club for Growth, which played an outsize role in defeating incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) in the primary last year, is not actively involved in Tennessee yet. A spokesman for the group declined to say if it would support a challenge to Alexander, but he didn’t shut the door, either.

Supporting a challenge to Alexander “depends on a lot of factors, not the least of which is there has to be an alternative,” said Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller.

Nashville Tea Party founder Ben Cunningham, who helped organize the anti-Alexander rally, said the 60 local tea party groups across the state plan to get together and hold meetings in August to coalesce around one challenger.

“We’re not going to allow the Republican establishment to put the grass roots aside,” Cunningham said. “They have tried to bully any potential challengers because they don’t want an open debate on Lamar’s voting record. It clearly isn’t conservative.”

But Alexander has already been preparing for the opposition.

He’s locked up the endorsements of six of Tennessee’s seven Republican House members as well as 13 former state GOP chairman. In interviews, some of the members admitted that Alexander’s vote for the immigration bill isn’t popular in an increasingly conservative Volunteer State but said that Alexander’s long record of service overshadows being out of step on immigration policy.

Rep. Phil Roe said that there will most likely be some saber-rattling from challengers, but he doesn’t expect they will do much more than make noise even if they raise millions. Rep. John Duncan, deemed by many to be the most conservative Tennessee congressman, said Alexander is not a creature of Washington and returns home frequently to keep the pulse of his state.

“The majority of Tennesseans, especially a big majority of Tennessee Republicans, I believe, would have voted against the Senate immigration bill. But Lamar is a courageous man,” Duncan said. “He’s not taken nearly as many let’s say, Democratic positions, as say Lindsey Graham,” he said, referring to the South Carolina GOP senator.

A pair of moderate retired Republicans said if Alexander draws a credible challenger, they will use their new super PAC, which has a fundraising goal of $8 million, to defend the two-term senator from a challenger seizing on his immigration vote. To former Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) and former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Alexander is precisely the type of Republican they are trying to keep from getting run out of town.

“When you run for reelection, there are certainly perilous times and perilous votes that you may cast, but I see that being very consistent with who he is as a person and senator,” Snowe said of Alexander’s immigration bill support. “Trust is a huge element. You aren’t always going to be agreed with by a majority of your state.”

LaTourette said those calling Alexander a RINO are certainly “very loud” but also a small group. Furthermore, the Ohioan said Alexander’s position on immigration won’t be as consequential as a vote by someone from a border state, where the issue is “white hot.”

Indeed, Alexander said he hears very little about immigration when he’s back home, and a Harper Polling survey in June suggested most Tennessee voters are more likely to support a senator like Alexander who voted for comprehensive immigration reform.

“But that doesn’t mean someone isn’t going to pop up and call for his head on a platter,” LaTourette said.

CORRECTION: The Smyrna, Tenn., event was a rally, not a fundraiser as originally reported.